A dilapidated beach hut at a picture postcard Welsh resort has been sold at auction for £39,500 to a buyer living in England.

The hut at the fashionable seaside village of Abersoch on the Lleyn Peninsular was considered particularly attractive because it stands on freehold land and can be knocked down and rebuilt as a more attractive property.

Estate agent Martin Lewthwaite said properties of the same type were in demand because they rarely went on the market.
Last November a similar hut at Abersoch went for just £20,000.

Despite having no running water or electricity, the huts at the popular holiday destination of Abersoch are in great demand.

Measuring 8ft by 8ft and in need of some repair, the blue-painted wooden shed has a simple corrugated iron roof.

It had been valued at £8,000 more than the 12ft by 12ft property which was sold last November.

But competition was so fierce that the £28,000 price was forced up to £39,500 by an eager purchaser.

The huts have been described by property agent Martin Lewthwaite as ideal for a family who wanted to sit on the beach and enjoy a summer's day in the picturesque resort.

However, Simon Brooks from Welsh-language pressure group Cymuned said the situation was a disgrace.

After last year's sale, he said :
"It gives an indication of what is happening in the property market and shows it is completely out of control.

"If a garden shed is on sale for £28,000, how much would a house in Abersoch cost?

Mr Brooks added that the average salary in the Lleyn Peninsula was between £13,000 - £14,000.

"The price tag for this hut is double the annual wage of the local people. It is an astonishing situation," he added.

Marshland

Figures released by the Land Registry in May showed the average price of a house in Wales has jumped by more than 23% in the last year.

Between January and March this year, the price of the average house in Wales was £90,585, compared to £73,276 during the same period in 2002.

Beach huts are being sold for record prices across the UK.

In January, two timber huts on Southwold seafront in Suffolk were on sale for £45,000 and £35,000.

In Dorset, a beach hut overlooking marshland was priced at £73,000 in April 2002.

But a pre-war two bedroom beach chalet, also in Dorset, eclipsed its owners' wildest expectations last year by selling for £120,000, more than double the original asking price.